It was this time last year that iQiyi, a Chinese streaming service similar to Netflix, launched its own 4K standalone VR headset for media viewing. One year on and the company’s next headset, the iQUT 2Pro, promises some significant upgrades.
The new headset, launched recently, retains a 4K resolution but crucially bumps tracking up from 3 degrees of freedom (3DOF) like the Oculus Go to 6DOF like the Oculus Quest. That’s thanks to a partnership with HTC Vive, which lends the same inside-out tracking seen in the Vive Focus standalone headset to the device. It’s even got the exact same controllers as the Vive Focus.
Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip — the same chip powering Oculus Quest — the iQUT 2 Pro promises to be a far more gaming-focused device than its predecessor. Running on the Vive Wave platform, it also has access to HTC’s wireless PC VR streaming option (which we haven’t tested ourselves).
Over on Twitter, HTC Vive China President Alvin Wang Grayling said that this was the first “of many” new 6DOF standalone headsets powered by Vive Wave on the way.
The device went on sale for 3999 yuan (about $560). However, as with other iQiyi headsets, you really shouldn’t expect this to launch in the west; it’s only available in China at the time of writing. Still, hopefully this is an indicator that we could see other 4K standalone VR headsets arriving on the market. Facebook is rumored to be working on a new version of Oculus Quest, but so far reports have suggested revisions in form factor and screen refresh rate.
